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With the NBA looking to resume the current season in a singular neutral venue the rest of the way, some teams have been looking into how this might work against them in terms of having the home-court advantage in the playoffs.
Should the league's bubble idea come into play, higher-seeded teams in the playoffs will no longer possess home court advantage against their opponents given how they will not be playing on their home floor. As a result, Dave McMenamin of ESPN reports that said teams have been having discussions on how they might be able to restore any type of edge in lieu of home-court advantage. These teams have reportedly been talking among themselves and are working on a proposal for the league, wherein some possible scenarios will be explored such as:
The higher-seeded team being awarded the first possession of the second, third and fourth quarters, following the traditional jump ball to begin the game
The higher-seeded team being allowed to designate one player to be able to be whistled for seven fouls instead of six before fouling out
The higher-seeded team receiving an extra coach's challenge
The higher-seeded teams being able to transport their actual hardwood home court from their home arenas to Orlando to try to preserve the feel of their home playing experience
An off-court feature in which playoff teams, in order of seeding 1-16, receive first choice on picking which hotel they will stay at in the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex and Disney World Resort. ESPN is owned by the Walt Disney Co.
To be fair to these teams, this makes a lot of sense. They've put in a significant amount of work and effort in order to gain home-court advantage in the playoffs, so it would only be right if they are given some sort of edge with home court no longer in the picture. Now whether or not this is something commissioner Adam Silver and his team will accept is a different matter altogether.
